Poverty Is Suffering

‘Poverty’ is something that people don’t want to encounter and experience. Everyone wants to be rich. It may be good to hear about poverty so we can understand it and find the way out of it. The Buddha said, “Poverty is a cause of suffering in the world”. Is it true? The answer, I think, all of us know very well so I will leave it to you all. And did the Buddha speak more about the poverty? Yes, he did, in Chakka Nipata Anguttara Nikaya. Here is what he said:

The Buddha said to the monks, “Behold monks, poverty is a cause of suffering in the world”. The monks said to the Buddha, “Yes sir, it really is, and please give a clear explanation for the world, so that they can avoid it”. He said, “Monks, because of poverty, people borrow money from the others; borrowing brings about suffering. Because of debt, they have to pay interest; to pay interest brings about suffering. When they cannot pay interest in time, they must be pressed for payment; the requirement of payment brings about suffering. When they are pressed for payment and they cannot pay, they will be charged; the charge brings about suffering. After the charge, if they cannot repay, they will be sentenced to jail; the imprisonment brings about suffering. Monks, all of these; poverty, debt, payment of interest, the pressure for payment, the charge and the imprisonment bring about suffering to the world”.

What the Buddha said is all about worldly poverty, and did he speak about the spiritual poverty? Yes, he did in the same talk. Here is what he said about spiritual poverty:

The Buddha said, “Monks, those, who have no confidence in wholesomeness, no moral shame and dread, make no effort to learn and practise Dhamma and have no wisdom to realise Dhamma, are poor in spirituality, Dhamma and Vinaya”. The monks asked the Buddha for more details about spiritual poverty, and he said, “Monks, those, who have no confidence in wholesomeness, no moral shame and dread, make no effort to learn and practise Dhamma and have no wisdom to realise Dhamma, are poor in spirituality, Dhamma and Vinaya. Because of the spiritual poverty, they do unwholesome actions through the mind, speech and body; unwholesome mental, verbal and physical actions symbolize the borrowing of debt. When they do bad actions mentally, verbally and physically, they try to cover up their wrong actions; this symbolizes the payment of interest. Because of the covering up of wrong actions, their bad behaviour or reputation will be spread; bad behaviour or bad reputation symbolizes the pressure for payment. After this, anxiety, distress and worry will follow them everywhere; this symbolizes the charge. Because of unwholesomeness, when they die, they will be reborn in the bad or suffering realms; this symbolizes imprisonment. Monks, all of these spiritual poverties are stumbling-blocks to enlightenment”.

This is a great teaching of the Buddha, to show to the world the real poverty both worldly and spiritual. In his teaching, there are proper solutions; for instance, the solution to worldly poverty is contentment; in the first place; people must be contented with what they have, so that they do not borrow money, which extends to more and more debt. Content is a real solution to worldly poverty. And the solution to spiritual poverty is ‘confidence in wholesomeness, moral shame and dread, the effort to learn and practise Dhamma and the wisdom to realise Dhamma’. It is certain that if people have confidence in wholesomeness, moral shame and dread, an effort to learn and practise Dhamma and wisdom to realise Dhamma, they will be very rich in Dhamma; they will be so rich that they can achieve Nibana, or enlightenment. The starting point is that they must have confidence in Dhamma, and also in themselves so that they are able to learn and practise to achieve ultimate wisdom.

All the solutions to worldly and spiritual poverties or problems are available here now. The only thing we must do is to resolve to act. Don’t hesitate, or it will be too late for you, start here and now.